amaotonovel Chapter 314 Shaking Mushrooms on the Wall (Part 11)
Chapter 314 Shaking Mushrooms on the Wall (Part 11)
"Your Highness, may the Emperor be blessed with good health and happiness."
Qingmo led a large entourage to the Cold Palace. Ling Yunche and the other man knelt on the ground, not daring to raise their heads. When Qingmo passed by Ling Yunche, she paused for a moment.
"I heard your name is Ling Yunche? Raise your head and let me see you."
Ling Yunche slowly raised his head, his eyes filled with a hint of tension and fear.
Qingmo looked him up and down, thinking to herself, "This brother who gets carsick isn't all that great."
He glanced at him once and then stepped into the cold palace, ignoring him completely.
Ling Yunche swallowed hard, he was so scared that his soul almost left his body. Fortunately, His Majesty did not find out that he and Da Ru were making extra money.
Jiang Yubin glanced coldly at Ling Yunche, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Hearing the commotion, Da Ru and Su Xin hurriedly came out of the house. Su Xin immediately knelt down to pay her respects, while Da Ru stood straight, as if the person standing in front of him was not the current emperor.
Qingmo found Daru's appearance amusing. "Ulanara clan, why don't you kneel before me? How dare you!"
With eyes as big as dead fish, she lifted her eyelids and said indifferently, "Your Majesty, I have no rank now and am just a commoner. What difference does it make whether I kneel or not? Can things get any worse than they are now?"
Qingmo sneered, "So, Ulanara, you've got it. Today I'll show you that even if you're a deposed concubine, you still have to kneel before me!"
After saying that, Qingmo gave a wink, and Jue Er immediately stepped forward and kicked Da Ru in the knee, causing Da Ru to fall to his knees with a thud.
"Your Majesty, why do you have to make things difficult for me?"
Da Ru's expression remained indifferent, as if she had taken everything lightly and didn't care about this little grievance at all.
"I've heard that you've had an affair with a guard in this cold palace. Is that true?"
Upon hearing this, Da Ru's expression changed, but she quickly regained her composure. "Your Majesty and I grew up together. If you are so suspicious of me now, I have nothing to say."
"Well said, 'Speechless' indeed. Men, search him."
The eunuchs immediately began searching the Cold Palace, and soon found a half-embroidered insole under Da Ru's pillow. "Ulanara, how do you explain this? This insole is clearly embroidered for a man."
Da Ru remained calm and composed, saying, "They're just some objects. I'm bored in this cold palace, so I'm just doing some needlework."
Before Qingmo could speak, Jiang Yubin suddenly ran out from the doorway and knelt down in front of her.
“Your Majesty, this servant reports that these insoles were given to Guard Ling by the Consort of the Cold Palace. The two of them often meet in private, and their words are quite ambiguous. Even the food that Consort Ulanara eats is different from that of the other concubines in the Cold Palace.”
Da Ru hadn't reacted yet, but Xin looked at Jiang Yubin in shock, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Ling Yunche panicked and hurriedly tried to explain himself.
"Your Majesty, I am innocent! My relationship with the Empress is completely innocent, and there is no affair between us. How could the Empress possibly care about someone as lowly as me? I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly and not to wrong the Empress."
Qingmo ignored Ling Yunche and instead focused her gaze on Jiang Yubin. "Oh, what evidence do you have? Jiang Yubin, if you can't produce any evidence, wrongly accusing a concubine is a capital offense."
Jiang Yubin was afraid that Ling Yunche would be exonerated, so he hurriedly said, "The evidence is right under Guard Ling's feet. Since we both work in the Cold Palace, I was assigned to share a room with Guard Ling."
"This servant saw with his own eyes that Guard Ling put the insoles that Ulanara gave him into his boots."
"If Your Majesty does not believe me, you may have someone remove Guard Ling's boots to check."
Qingmo sneered, "Someone, take off Ling Yunche's boots and inspect them."
Several eunuchs immediately stepped forward and hurriedly pulled off Ling Yunche's boots, leaving one insole on the ground.
Ling Yunche's face turned deathly pale instantly, and he knelt down with a thud. "Your Majesty, spare my life! It was this servant who was bewitched by greed and colluded with Ulanara to sell handkerchiefs among the common people to earn money."
“But there is really no romantic relationship between this servant and Your Highness. Your Highness only gave this servant a pair of insoles to thank me.”
Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, Da Ru stopped trying to deny it. He just stared with dead fish eyes and said calmly, "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with Guard Ling. These insoles are just a small token of my gratitude for his help."
"If Your Majesty insists on blaming me, then I have no way to defend myself. My relationship with Guard Ling is completely innocent. Please, Your Majesty, do not make things difficult for him."
At this moment, Su Xin also realized what had happened. Ignoring Jiang Yubin's betrayal, she echoed, "Your Majesty, my mistress and Guard Ling really have no relationship whatsoever. I swear on my life."
"Oh, so you mean Jiang Yubin is lying, Xin?"
At this moment, not only Qingmo's gaze was fixed on Ruixin, but Jiang Yubin was also staring intently at her, afraid that she might say something detrimental to him.
Su Xin hesitated, unsure how to answer.
If she says yes, then Jiang Yubin is deceiving the emperor and will surely be executed.
But if she says no, it would be tantamount to admitting the relationship between the young mistress and Guard Ling. What should the young mistress do then?
Faced with this dilemma, Su Xin finally spoke up: "Yes, it is Eunuch Jiang who has misunderstood. Please, Your Majesty, investigate thoroughly."
In the end, she still chose Daru. How could any man compare to the deep bond between her and Daru, the master and servant?
Upon hearing Su Xin's words, Jiang Yubin's eyes filled with despair and anger. "Fine, very well indeed!"
He gritted his teeth and said, "Xin Xin, you still chose her in the end. It's ridiculous that I've ended up like this because of you, hahaha."
Qingmo watched this scene with great interest. "Jiang Yubin, is there anything else you want to say?"
Jiang Yubin took a deep breath. "Your Majesty, everything I have said is true. Since you are so determined to protect them, I have nothing more to say. I am willing to die to prove my loyalty."
Qingmo waved her hand, "Enough. This matter is not honorable, and I do not wish to pursue it to the end. Ling Yunche, as a guard, you were involved with the deposed concubine in selling palace items. You may be spared the death penalty, but you will not escape punishment. I will grant you castration and you will remain in the Cold Palace from now on."
Then she turned her gaze to Daru: "Ulanara, you are unrepentant and have caused such a disgrace in the Cold Palace. Since you love embroidering insoles so much, I will punish you to embroider insoles every day until you have embroidered 100,000 insoles for the border soldiers. No one else is allowed to help you."
Da Ru collapsed to the ground, her eyes vacant. However, she wasn't concerned about the 100,000 insoles, but rather about hearing that the Emperor intended to castrate Ling Yunche.
A crack finally appeared on her unchanging expression.
"No, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, none of this has anything to do with Guard Ling. You can't do this to him, you can't do this to him, Your Majesty!"
She knelt on the ground and crawled to Qingmo's feet to plead for Ling Yunche. At this moment, her usually serene demeanor finally gave way.
Qingmo kicked her over, "Hmph, I thought Ruyi only knew how to say 'Your Majesty, I have no way to defend yourself,' but it turns out it's just that the matter didn't meet your expectations."
After saying that, she left with her men, leaving Da Ru behind, who cried out in anguish, "Your Majesty, this has nothing to do with Guard Ling! Release him! Release him!"
"No, no, no... You can't do this."